Sussex Archaeological Collections: Relating to the history and antiquities of the counties of East and West Sussex
Sussex Archaeological Society, 2000. (updated 2022) https://doi.org/10.5284/1000334. How to cite using this DOI
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Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 285
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1000334
- How to cite using this DOI
Driven to rebellion? Sir John Lewknor, dynastic loyalty and debt
by Malcolm Mercer
The events leading up to the death of Sir John Lewknor, fighting for the Lancastrians at the battle of Tewkesbury in 1471, are examined in detail. Two reasons are suggested for Lewknor's support: firstly, as a result of previous service ties to Henry VI and the royal affinity; secondly, as a consequence of increasingly desperate personal circumstances. Until the triumph in 1461 of the first Yorkist king, Edward IV, Lewknor had been building a successful career as a royal servant. His world then fell apart. Increasingly beset by financial difficulties as the decade wore on, his lands the subject of litigation, and unable to find even a modest role in Sussex affairs, Lewknor became steadily alienated from a regime which offered him no future. The crisis of the Yorkist monarchy at the end of the 1460s presented a way out of his problems. When Lancastrian rule was restored in 1470, Lewknor had an opportunity to rebuild his fortunes and re-establish a career in royal service. In the event, however, the regime crumbled and Lewknor, with little to lose, died fighting for the Lancastrians.
